


Prompt 36: Money

by ArticNight



Series: *100 prompts* [36]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry and Ray are brothers, CASS IS THE BEST, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 12:52:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8625127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArticNight/pseuds/ArticNight
Summary: Hartley was expecting another somewhat boring party. He didn't expect to meet Ray's cute brother.





	

Hartley sighed as he got out of the nice car that they had used to get here. It was the Queen’s annual Christmas party for the wealth of Starling and the most prominent of those in other cities. Which obviously meant that the Rathaways’ came all the way from Central for this event. He tugged a bit at his collar but stopped at the sharp look from his mother. Following after Hartley bordely looked around the festive area. It was covered in green, red, silver and gold with even a couple mistletoe hanging.

“Hello Hartley.” Mrs. Queen greeted. Hartley may not have liked being here but at least Mrs. Queen made an effort to know everyone's name.

“Mrs. Queen, always a pleasure.” Hartley smiled back.

“If you would like to join Oliver, he is over with Tommy and some of their other friends.” Giving a nod Hartley headed over to the group. He recognized some of them. Of course there was Oliver Queen and Tommy Merlyn. He recognized the Lance sisters though he never bothered with their names. Bruce Wayne was talking to Ray Palmer, a young man that was extremely optimistic. It was slightly concerning.

“Hey there squirt.” Tommy greeted earning an unamused look from Hartley. Just because he was younger than the rest of them Tommy enjoyed pointing it out.

“Hello Thomas.” Hartley replied dryly.

“Hi Hartley!” Ray greeted.

“Hello Ray, you seem particularly cheerful.” Ray nodded quickly, eyes lit up.

“I finally got my brother to come with!”

“You have a brother?” That was the first time Hartley heard anything about that.

“Yeah. Our parents sent him to a private school and if _I_ spend too much time inside he almost never leaves.”

“Where is he?” Hartley glanced around to see if he might be able to guess the right kid.

“Went to get a drink.” Oliver replied. Hartley nodded in response.

“So what have you been up to?” The group made idle chatter until a young brunette about the same age as Hartley came over.

“Hartley, this is my younger brother Barry. Barry this is Hartley.” Barry was cute, Hartley could admit that. Tall, thin with brown hair and a shy smile.

“Uh hi. It’s nice to meet you.” Barry greeted, a light blush on his face.

“Pleasure is all mine.” Hartley gave a charming smile, watching as the blush darkened. Interesting.

“So Hartley, how have things been at home? Things looked tensed.” Tommy questioned. Hartley sighed but answered none the less.

“My parents weren’t thrilled with what I told them. They seem to think I’m rebelling or something of the sort.”

“What did you tell them?” Ray asked.

“I told them that I was not interested in finding a potential consort out of the ones they wanted me to pick from.”

“...They picked out girls for you to marry?” Barry asked, hesitantly. Really the look of shocked confusion was adorable.

“My family comes from old money therefore old customs. My parents are very well off so it wouldn’t be hard to set up an arranged marriage if I liked one of the girls.” Oliver sent him a questioning look.

“You still haven’t come out?” Hartley rolled his eyes before leveling Oliver with a look.

“Remember when my cousin Leonard came out? Now the difference is that Leonard was not their child. If they found out I was gay… just a few more years then I won’t have to worry about any of them, but for now I just have to grin and bare it.” Hartley saw Barry perk up at that though he wasn’t sure why.

“When you say Leonard do you mean Leonard Snart?”

“You know him?” Barry nodded quickly as he practically bounced on the heels of his feet.

“Lenny is friends with my friend Caitlin’s cousin Mick.”

“Care to explain that one?” Tommy asked with amusement.

“Okay so I have a friend Caitlin that I met while ditching classes one day-”

“You ditched your classes?” Ray asked sounding so scandalized.

“Yeah, my friend Cisco convinced me since it was just a stupid sports thing going on. Anyway. So we end up at a dinner and we are having an argument. Caitlin ended up listening in and laughing as Cisco says something or another. Well we ended up being friends and hanging out. We met Mick about a month or two later. He was hanging out with Len and his sister. They are such dorks.”

“Did… Did you just call Leonard Snart and Mick Rory dorks?” Hartley asked in amusement, laughter clear in his voice.

“They _are_ dorks. They try acting like big tough guys but Len and Cisco got into an argument over Star Wars while Mick braided Caitlin and Lisa’s hair.” Barry said gleefully.

“At least someone else can see it. No one believes me.” Hartley sighed.

“So are you going to school?” Barry asked. Hartley nodded, a look of distaste clear on his face,

“Business.”

“Don’t like it?”

“Not at all but since I’m set to inherit the business…”

“What are you interested in?” Barry asked. 

“Science. I have always had a passion for it and I even have some prototypes in my workroom. I have a meeting with Dr. Wells in a few days time.”

“Really?” Hartley glanced up to see Barry’s eyes shining with admiration, “That’s amazing.”

“You like science?” Hartley asked impressed. He knew that Ray was a fellow scientist but he was the only other rich kid that he knew who was.

“Are you kidding? I love science! Dr. Wells is one of my idols. The sort of things he makes? I have always thought it was so cool when people can make things like that. I mean Ray has his own experiments going on and so does Cisco and they are always so amazing. I’m not really good at wiring things, I’m better at chemical experiments.”

“If you’re in Central sometime you should stop by. I can show you some of the things I’m working on.” Hartley offered coquetry. Barry’s face lit up.

“Really?”

“Of course.” That was when a snicker caught his attention. Tommy snickering by Oliver who had a smug smirk on his face. With narrowed eyes Hartley sent him strong words with sign language that caused Oliver to blush as Tommy laughed. Barry looked at him curiously,

“You know sign language?” Hartley nodded, a little hesitant now.

“One of my nannies taught me. My parents couldn’t bother.” He tapped his ears, tilting to show the small hearing aids, “I didn’t mind not being able to hear but it was either make these or let father take me to a doctor for an experimental procedure that only had about a 30% chance of working.”

“Of course then to show off he learned five other languages.” Tommy spoke up, Oliver was still quiet with a bright blush.

“What languages?” Barry asked, eyes bright.

“Japanese, French, Spanish, Latin and German. I’m learning Russian.”

“Of course you are.”

“Tommy.” Ray scolded as he came back. “Maybe if you applied yourself half as much you’d be doing something more productive than sleeping around.” A strangled noise was drowned out by Oliver’s laughter. Barry looked wide eyed as though he had never heard Ray say something like that before. As funny as it was Hartley redirected the conversation.

“Do you speak any languages?” Barry shook his head.

“Trust me, Cisco has tried teaching me Spanish, Caitlin tried French, Len tried teaching me Arabic and Mick tried Mandarin. I just cannot seem to learn languages.” Barry sighed.

“Suus 'non iustus quidam.” Hartley shrugged. He watched over the rim of his glass as Barry swallowed, red blooming from his cheeks down his long neck. Interesting.

“Would you like to join me outside?” Bruce asked as he finally got back from a drink run. He handed one to Barry and Ray, keeping one for himself.

“Let’s get out of here before the adults notice.” Tommy agreed. Quickly they left the room. They didn’t actually head outside though. Instead they found a side room that seemed more like a sitting room. 

“Move over.” Tommy shoved Oliver out of the way to sit next to Bruce who had a smirk on his face. Barry had already sat next to Hartley which left Oliver and Ray on their own.

“Better pucker up Queen.” Bruce stated as he pointedly looked above the two. Barry laughed as they saw the little green plant.

“Oh you jackass.” Oliver glared at Bruce.

“Well get kissing.” Tommy ordered.

“Lord knows you two have some serious sexual tension.” Barry murmured. Ray wasn’t looking but as always Oliver steeled his nerves and made the move. He grabbed Ray and kissed him. It quickly started escalating when a whistle interrupted.

“About time.” Thea muttered as she came in with Felicity, her and Oliver’s cousin. There was another girl with them, some distant family of the Al Ghul family. Hartley remembered meeting her when she was traveling with the oldest of Raj’s children, Duson, and the youngest, Nyssa. Her name started with a C…

“Cassandra,” Bruce greeted.

“Cass.” She responded. Bruce gave a nod.

“Cass.”

“My cousin waits for you to ask for Talia’s hand.”

“Well Raj will have to wait for a while longer.”

“Wait, you’re dating Talia Al Ghul?” Tommy gasped in shock.

“Not dating.”

“It’s complicated.” Cass stated with a small smirk

“What’s complicated?”

“Well let’s see there is Talia who he is betrothed to, Selina who he is dating, and Diana who he is also dating.” Felicity grinned as she listed it off.

“Bruce!” Barry frowned at him. Bruce rolled his eyes.

“Calm down Bar, I am betrothed to Talia, Selina and I are kind of off again on again dating, but Talia knows this and has dated her own share of guys. Both of them are fully aware of the situation and that it will not go anywhere. Diana happens to be a very good friend of mine who has a boyfriend.” Bruce stated with a look.

“So getting some threesome action?” Tommy joked.

“Oh Tommy, don’t get jealous over the fact that you can’t get any.” Hartley quipped.

“Excuse you? I’m sexy. I could get any guy or girl I wanted.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Barry murmured. That startled laughter out of everyone except Tommy who looked affronted.

“Excuse you?” Barry froze, eyes widening.

“Oh shit… that was out loud.”

“So, who is this adorable little addition?” Thea asked, looking at Barry.

“Ray’s brother, Barry.” Bruce introduced since Barry was sinking into his seat and Ray was stock still.

“How do you know him?” Cass asked turning to Bruce.

“Same school.” Well that answered that.

“Hey Barry could you fetch the girls a drink?” Tommy asked.

“Sure!” He happily took the escape.

“Ray can you get snacks? I need to talk to Felicity?” Ray nodded, face only shades lighter than his brother’s.

“Oh my god Hartley.” Tommy broke out laughing.

“What?” he asked defensively.

“If you’re in Central sometime you stop by. I can show you some of the things I’m working on. Does he even know what you’re suggesting?” Hartley gave him a dry look.

“I am being honest you know. I want to show him my experiments, and if it leads to some making out then that’s even better.” Hartley shrugged.

“Well with what you’ve been telling him that shouldn’t be to hard. He looked like he was about to jump you.” Oliver pointed out.

“Did you speak a different language?” Bruce asked. Hartley nodded. Bruce chuckled,

“He has a language kink.”

“How do you know this?” Thea asked with a look.

“I saw what happened when Cisco spoke Spanish for the first time. It was only one reason that it was so hard for Barry to learn a new language.”

“That is hilarious.”

“What is?” Ray asked as he came back, Barry following close after.

“Nothing of any importance.” Thea replied, gratefully taking her drink. Cass took her own with a soft thank you.

“So Cass, Bruce told me that you and Nyssa are actually opening a martial arts school.” Barry asked. Cass nodded.

“Duson is supposed to inherit the family business with Talia second in line if something were to happen. Nyssa and I were trained by some of my cousin’s old friends. We thought it would be fun.”

“That’s cool. Let me know when it opens okay? Len wanted his sister to be enrolled in a martial arts class but most of the ones he’s looked into were run by people who were, to put it bluntly, jackasses. Plus I know a few people who’ve been wanting to start up.” Cass nodded.

“Alright. May I have your phone?” Barry handed it over. Some typing and Cass gave it back.

“My number, so I can text you.”

“Cool..” Hartley bit back a snicker. Oliver wrapped an arm around Ray whose face burned red in embarrassment.

“Oh shoot.” Barry frowned as he looked at his phone.

“What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t realize how late it was. I need to get back. Cisco and I still need to finish our science fair project.” Ray got up to follow but Barry waved him off.

“Stay, I’ll see you tomorrow okay?” Ray nodded.

“Let me walk you out.” Hartley offered. He flipped Tommy off out of Barry’s sight as he went with. They stood by the door for a few moments as someone went to get him a car.

“May I see your phone?” Barry handed it over. Not long after Hartley handed it back.

“Call me when you’re in Central. Or if you just want to chat. I had fun.” Barry smiled back, face flushing a little.

“I did too.” He said as he moved a little closer. Hartley took in his face before glancing just a hair higher. With a smirk Hartley leant forward, kissing Barry chastely.

“Mistletoe.” He murmured as he pulled back.

“Oh? Well since we _are_ still under it.” Barry moved closer, kissing Hartley. They pulled back as the car neared.

“Call me?”

“Definitely.” Barry agreed with a flushed face as he got in the vehicle. Hartley walked back in with a bounce to his step.


End file.
